On this episode of TechSperience, Penny Conway has a fun and interesting perspective talk with Lane Shelton on the cultural differences between Google and Microsoft. Listen and see if you can determine if your company is Microsoft or Google – Centric based on your Cafeteria. Have fun and leave a comment and let us know!
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This is a transcript of the TechSperience Podcast – Episode 8
Announcer:
Welcome to another Connection Podcast. Today to Microsoft or To Google? It’s a question that many companies, for many reasons are asking these days as they evaluate which business collaboration technologies may be best for their employees. Here at Connection, our VP and Principal Consultant for the Microsoft Center of Excellence, Lane Shelton, has stumbled upon a way in which he helps guide teams towards making the choice and as Penny Conway, our Senior Program Manager for Workplace Transformation learns, his approach is rather unique.
Penny Conway:
I heard that you can tell within 15 minutes of sitting in someone’s cafeteria whether they are a Microsoft candidate or a Google candidate. And so, I thought it would be really fun to have you on and kind of walk us through your experience and what those indicators are.
Lane Shelton:
Sure. So, as you know, I spend a lot of time talking to customers about their Microsoft investment. I get the question a lot; should we look at Google? What’s Google? What’s the Google experience like? Because, I mean Microsoft has dominated the productivity space in business sector for a long, long time and, you know, I mean, most customers, they, they like their Microsoft experience. But, at the same time, they, they have a curi-a natural curiosity about what else is out there.
Penny Conway:
Of course.
Announcer:
You know, competition is a good thing. You know, America runs on competition. So, they want to see. You know, so we get that question a lot. Sometimes it’s because they are unhappy with the price they are paying for Microsoft.
Penny Conway:
(Laughs)
Lane Shelton:
You know, and sometimes it’s not. But, but the question comes up a lot. And so, having gotten that question enough times, we decided to, kind of, do our due diligence on finding, finding the answer. So, we, we went out and met with Google. We went onsite to their facility in New York City and spent the day, just kind of learning about what Google has to offer and what their philosophy is. And I have to say, I walked away from that meeting extremely impressed with Google. They really had; I don’t know if it was the guy I was meeting with, was just a phenomenal seller or…
Penny Conway:
(Laughs)
Lane Shelton:
Or, or they really, you know, that is, that is their corporate culture. I was really impressed with how Google not only, kind of, seemed like they had a really solid idea of what they were about. But, they really, they were really in tune with what their software package was, or their service, the G Suite service.
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
Ah, was, in a way that I hadn’t really experienced. I wasn’t, I wasn’t expecting, right? So, I was very impressed. And, and what I learned really, the, the takeaway from that was; and this is kind of born out in my own personal experience because it’s not like I don’t use Google, I use it every day.
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Lane Shelton:
I mean, I use Microsoft. I use Google.
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
I love them both. But Google is more of a cultural thing, G Suite is more of a culture than a, a package. It’s really designed to support a certain type of environment; a certain type of environment that happens to look a lot like Google. (laughs).
Penny Conway:
(laughs) Right. (laughs)
Lane Shelton:
Another West Coast Silicon Valley, you know, speaking as an East Coast guy. You know, it’s really designed around quick, on the fly, collaboration. Like, like small teams of people forming up to execute projects and tasks. Almost like cells in an organism, that join together to form, and then they reform, and that’s really that kind of, that, that high speed, highly collaborative, matrix-based, type of organization. That’s really what Google is, kind of, geared towards. This is just my personal opinion, obviously. But, but you kind of feel that when you use, I mean, you’ve used, you’ve used Gmail before?
Penny Conway:
Oh yeah, every day. Yeah.
Lane Shelton:
I mean, I, I use it all the time. Right? But how different is Gmail? If you think about what is email in a Gmail context? It’s almost like this, sort of, streaming conscientiousness.
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Lane Shelton:
Right? You’re not putting stuff in file folders. You’re not moving…
Penny Conway:
No.
Lane Shelton:
and organizing nothing. It’s just coming and rolling and going and you might star a few things and, but it’s a totally different mindset to operate Gmail than it is when you’re sitting in front of, you know, fully functional Outlook. Right? Outlook’s like this tool, that Swiss army knife tool that you use. Gmail is like this, this blinking light that just, that just kind of goes. Right?
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
Well, the whole G, the whole of the G Suite experience is like that. I remember when I was my old boss; this was before that meeting in New York. But we were planning for that meeting in New York, and, and so we were collaborating with the Google team on setting up the schedule and the agenda. And we were doing it in Sheets, Google Sheets. And so, there was somebody from California, somebody from New York, somebody else; and we were all building this agenda in Sheets. Because, obviously it’s Google, we’re using Sheets. We’re not going to use Excel when you’re talking to Google people, so. We were, and, and what was amazing was the, the speed of the real time collaboration. Now, Microsoft has since come a long way on, you know, real time co-authoring. But, back then, it was, they were still figuring that part out. And, you know, Sheets was known for its, its ability for you and me to fire something up, collaborate, pull somebody in, you know via Hangouts, you know, from 16 different places, and we’re all pounding away on this document. And I’m seeing what you’re doing…
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
and you’re seeing what I’m doing. And there’s just this seamless experience. We just, kind of, jelled together. We built this, out, out this agenda. And then when we were done, I just turned it off. And Jeff was like, “Oh my God, you didn’t save it!”
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
And I was like, “Jeff, it’s Sheets, Man. You don’t save this stuff.” There is no, there is no saving.
Penny Conway:
Yep, it’s all in the cloud.
Lane Shelton:
It’s all in the cloud. Now, of course, now Microsoft has auto save. That rolled out, what, a couple of months ago?
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
And so now I don’t hit Save with Excel anymore either. That took some getting used to…
Penny Conway:
But you still do, don’t you?
Lane Shelton:
No, I don’t, actually.
Penny Conway:
Oh, geez. (laughs)
Lane Shelton:
I’m totally converted. Because, because I was used to the Sheets thing. Like, I love that about Sheets. Now I got that in Excel. So, you know, I hate, hate Sheets for what I do only, at business because I do a lot with Excel and I need that, like, I need that level…
Penny Conway:
The power and the thinking, yeah.
Lane Shelton:
of power of Excel as a, as a tool. But when I do like my personal budget at home and stuff, I do that on Sheets because it’s easy, because it’s quick and easy, Right? So, again Google versus Microsoft is, is more of a, less of a technology decision, in my opinion, and more of a cultural decision. Right? So, I’ve been, that, that thought has been rolling around in my head for a while. And I went on site to, to do a consulting engagement with, with a customer and they asked that question. But, they were really serious about it. It wasn’t that they were unhappy with Microsoft. They just, you know, their costs have been going up. So, it just, it just sparked them to say, we want to take a, we want to take a serious look at this.
At lunch, I had been in their cafeteria and I’d sort of been thinking about this idea of how do you, what, how can you quickly measure a company to see if they might even have that Google fit, right? Because if a customer is going to go down that route, especially if their like, right in the middle of like renewing a big Microsoft agreement or something and they want to talk to Google. Like, I wanted to know, how do I respond to that? How do I either get that out of the way quickly or tell if it’s something that they are going to take seriously, right?
Penny Conway:
Yeah.
Lane Shelton:
Something I need to factor in. And, so, as I was in the cafeteria, I started observing things, and I realized, I’m like, Wow. You can really tell a lot about a company’s culture by what you see in their cafeteria. So when the Google question came up, I said, “You’re not a Google candidate.” I said, “I know you’ve, but you’re not a Google candidate.”
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
He’s like, why? I’m like because I’ve spent 15 minutes in your cafeteria, and I can tell you that. He’s like, okay, how do you, how are you able to spend 15 minutes in my cafeteria and tell me that I’m not, that I’m not eligible for G Suite.
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
And I said, and I said, okay. Here’s the deal. So, G Suite is a, more of, is going to require more cultural changes. It’s not so much about the moneys involved. Would it be cheaper? Would it not be cheaper? That’s kind of the wrong question to ask. The right question to ask is, is my, you know, would my corporate culture support a move to that kind of, that kind of environment that, that, that G Suite is built for? I said, and I was in your cafeteria, and I noticed because they had just moved into a, a new, big fancy headquarters.
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
So, I looked around your cafeteria and I said, and I saw all these little collaboration rooms. All around the cafeteria are little collaboration spaces. And I said, Oo, that’s a Google move. Like that’s all, that’s that says Google. Except that I saw, like the, the scheduling, the conference scheduling screens out in front of all of them. You know, because you had to, you, you couldn’t just go into them…
Penny Conway:
You have to book a collaboration room. (laughs)
Lane Shelton:
You have to book it, you had to book it to do it. And I’m like, not Google. (laughs) And I said, so I asked around and you started it as impromptu collaboration space, but people started fighting over the rooms (laughs).
Penny Conway:
Oh my gosh.
Lane Shelton:
And so, then you locked them down.
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
I’m like, okay, so you started Google, now not Google. I said, I saw fancy, really nice, gourmet coffee. I said, and it was free. I’m like, Oo, that’s Google! That’s Google!
Penny Conway:
That’s Google!
Lane Shelton:
I said and I went to get a cup and I pulled out this thimble-sized cup (laughs)…
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
with which to daintily sip my, my two sips of, of, of coffee. And I asked somebody, how come I’m holding this, this, this thimble of coffee, and they’re like well, that’s because when it was free and it was first launched, people would come in with their giant, 68 ounce, you know, tub thermos and fill up with the gourmet, free coffee (laughs).
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
I’m like, so, you know, free coffee – Google. I’m like, thimble-sized cups – Not Google (laughs).
Penny Conway:
Not Google (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
I was like, okay, so that’s strike two. And I said Strike three; I said, I noticed you had free soda and snacks and I’m like, you know, again, that’s a Google move. You want people eating. You don’t want them leaving the building.
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Lane Shelton:
You want them awake, so you’re serving them free coffee. You want them in these collaboration spaces, because that’s what, you know, now you’ve got all this, you know, all this stuff happening. I said, so total Google move to have that colab, to have that free. I said, except it’s only available from 12:00 to 2:00 on like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
Oh wait, not Friday; Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.
Penny Conway:
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.
Lane Shelton:
And because what was happening was people were coming in with their coolers and their (laughter)…
Penny Conway:
And they were taking it home with them.
Lane Shelton:
And taking home 62 gallons of cola, you know, and a bag full of free popcorn. I was like, not Google. I said…
Penny Conway:
Oh my gosh.
Lane Shelton:
You know, applaud your efforts for, for trying to, to embrace that, sort of culture. Because that’s not for everybody and, I mean, I’m an East Coast guy so all that kind of, you know, it feels a bit hippy to me, a bit hippy to me (laughs). I’m more of a suit and tie, you know, I like to schedule my meetings. You know….
Penny Conway:
Pay for your coffee (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
That’s because I’m an East coast guy. You know, it annoys me when it’s like people running around and, you know, I, just, that, that feels ADD to me, right? So, I’m probably not a good, you know, long term Google candidate for, you know, doing my business in G Suite. I like my business to be business. I like my fun to be fun…
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
and so, and those two don’t, don’t mesh well. But, that’s just me personally. But corp, as an organization, they were kind of the same way.
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
So, I was like, you know, you can look at Google all you want, but I guarantee you most of your people are going to hate, hate the experience because it’s going to, it’s going to impede the way they want to work.
Penny Conway:
So, that’s a good thought. Because if you look at a company like that, clearly, they are putting things like collaboration Rooms, free coffee, free snacks. The organization themselves is Google, maybe minded, that open mind, but their, sort of, all of the people that they have within their organization, their maybe hiring practices, things like that. So, do you think companies can go through that transformation that gets them there, or they’re pretty solid state?
Lane Shelton:
I think so, I think so. I mean, to me, it’s fascinating that both platforms. It’s not like Microsoft doesn’t support that type of environment, they clearly do. I mean, look at Teams, and look at, you know. In my opinion, I think Microsoft maybe has done a better job of striking the balance. Because, you know, you can, there are plenty of companies that do use Microsoft in that, in that Google context, if you will.
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Lane Shelton:
Right? And they do it just fine. Right? They get away with it just fine. But, I’m, you know, I, I, haven’t yet seen, not to say it doesn’t exist, but I haven’t seen where a company that would, like if I was the CEO, you know, that my company, I haven’t seen that like that run on Google with the same level of, of, with the same kind of, kind of result, right?
Penny Conway:
Yeah.
Lane Shelton:
But, my vision is limited on that, right? Because this is kind of an idea that’s only been kicking around in my head for a couple of years. So, you know, I’m looking for it, you know, I’m looking. That’s kind of one of those questions I’m always trying to ask is okay, I know Microsoft is universally relevant, right? Is Google also universally relevant?
Penny Conway:
Yeah.
Lane Shelton:
That’s an interesting question.
Penny Conway:
Yeah, it is.
Lane Shelton:
And something I look for. So, you know, the experience you’re getting, it’s, the experience that you’re going to get, the experience that you’re going to see when you’re in the Google platform is going; You’re, as an organization you kind of have to decide, is that what we’re going to embrace or not? And I have seen one company fully embrace the Google. In fact, they kind of hired us, on the Microsoft side to, sort of, retire their Microsoft elegantly. Right?
Penny Conway:
Ah. (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
Like, we were like the caretakers.
Penny Conway:
We go out with dignity.
Lane Shelton:
We’re like, we’re, yeah, go out with dignity. Like, they’re like okay this. But even in that, even in that environment, Accounting stayed on Microsoft.
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
Accounting was the hold-up. They were like…
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
You know, we’ll go G Suite over our dead bodies, like that.
Penny Conway:
Right (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
Because they, because of Excel.
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
Right?
Penny Conway:
Yeah.
Lane Shelton:
The world runs on Microsoft Excel. I made my living with Microsoft Excel for 20-something years.
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
So, you know, they, they weren’t giving that up. And, and the organization didn’t make them. But, that was the only, that was the only sort of, the only group left. But they had to really embrace that Google Hangouts, that, you know, that whole culture. And they were also a West Coast company, a household name. So, they were ready for it. The question is, you know, what does that get you in the end? How do you quantify that val-is, is there a value equation there that’s worth making the shift? I don’t know the answer to that question. I’d love to find out. I’d love to see.
Penny Conway:
Do you think though, that company, is it’s interesting because a, a previous episode that we did was specific to education, and the Google and Microsoft really battled. The goal of that and the, the point of that podcast was to show how the two platforms can play together, that it isn’t an either/or, that a school can support both, they can have both, the cost effectiveness of Google and then, in education specifically, the cost effectiveness of Microsoft…
Lane Shelton:
Right.
Penny Conway:
is really relevant. But in an organization, corporate setting; do you think those two in the future could play together and maybe have IT or companies support both platforms or do you really think it’s a one or the other?
Lane Shelton:
That’s one of the reasons why we are building that survey we were talking about that asks customers to, kind of, kind of, stack rank their future on those various platforms, right? Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple. Because we are very curious about, we’re very curious about that, about, because and in one of the questions we asked, or in the preamble to that survey that we’re sending out, we make the statement that while these, these, these ecosystems, right?
And I include Amaz-Amazon is kind of a wildcard, right? Like they’re everywhere. They, they could, they have Amazon for education. Like they’re, you know, they’re trying to make their way in just like everybody else is, right? Apple, Google. So, when I look at the, the overall landscape, it looks to me like they’re designed to play, play well together. And that’s kind of a Satya thing on the Microsoft, right?
Penny Conway:
Right, yeah.
Lane Shelton:
Under Ballmer, there wasn’t much playing well together.
Penny Conway:
No (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
Right?
Penny Conway:
No one was sharing.
Lane Shelton:
He was red meat. Loved Ballmer though. I mean, he was, he was a man for his time, right. And then they needed a more, Microsoft needed a more open minded, you know, less proprietary; they wouldn’t have, Satya couldn’t have done what he did if Ballmer hadn’t done what he did. So, I’ve always been a fan of both for very different reasons. You know, Satya is a, I call him kind of a born in the cloud Bill Gates, right? He’s, he’s, so he’s definitely looking to make that experience seamless and if that has to include some of, some of his competitors, so be it, right? And they embrace that. And they embrace it more and more, you know, with each passing year.
However, those ecosystems, although they are designed to work with other ecosystems, there is also, I think, in my opinion again, equal effort put into making sure that the experience you get with you kind of sole source is better than the one when you, when you inter-operate. So, sure they’ll work together. But when it comes to probably in the realm of how, what you are able to do with the data that you are pushing through those ecosystems, you’re going to have a better overall experience. You’re going to get better actionable intel. You’re going to get better controls, better security, because it’s a, you know, it’s, you’re sole sourcing, right? So, I think that’s kind of, they’re frenemies, right?
Penny Conway:
Yeah (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
Like, they’ll work well together, but their real goal…
Penny Conway:
But they don’t want to give,
Lane Shelton:
Make no mistake…
Penny Conway:
they don’t want you to go to someone else.
Lane Shelton:
World dominance…
Penny Conway:
They want you to stay.
Lane Shelton:
Is on the agenda (laughs).
Penny Conway:
(laughs). That is very true. But it’s interesting that you say that about Satya, like he was very, he was a cloud child. He understood the power of that. He almost is, sort of, he is a Google minded person.
Lane Shelton:
Well, yeah.
Penny Conway:
Like in how his brain works and the collaboration and the vision that he has. But he’s building. He’s brought that culture to Microsoft.
Lane Shelton:
Yeah.
Penny Conway:
To sort of, kind of, give that better user experience across the board.
Lane Shelton:
Yeah, and that’s why I call him a born in the cloud Bill Gates. Bill, when I say that, I’m channeling, like Bill Gates was a man on a mission, right? Like a PC on every desk.
Penny Conway:
Uh-hm (affirmative).
Lane Shelton:
Right, like a PC in every home. Like that was his thing. And he saw that before anybody else, and he saw that very clearly, and he orchestrated Microsoft to provide that, and they did.
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative).
Lane Shelton:
Right. I mean, you know, they did, with, you know, and then some.
Penny Conway:
And then some (laughs).
Lane Shelton:
Right? I think that Satya sees the same thing. But it’s almost like, what I think Satya sees is this vast ecosystem that connects everything together where that entire experience from the edge to the, to the cloud, and everything and all points in between, is like this fabric that weaves business and people and organizations and governments and academic institutions. It’s like this, almost like this invisible fabric that just brings it all together in one ecosystem, obviously driven by Microsoft.
So, it’s kind of like Bill Gates’ vision of a PC in every home, living room, office, etc., but it’s, instead, it’s the, you know, it’s this, this, this invisible web that connects everything, in every home and every. So, he’s, I think he’s got a very Bill Gates’ like mission, and I do believe he’s, he’s one of, he saw it long before the rest of us did. And so that’s where he’s taking Microsoft. It took Ballmer, because you remember, like, I think it was Microsoft’s partner conference in, I can’t remember the, it was maybe 2000. Ah, I can’t remember the exact year, but, but, but a sweaty Steve Ballmer got up on stage and screamed, “We’re all in on the cloud.” And he wasn’t kidding, because like 98% of their R&D within 12 months was, was, was behind the cloud.
It took that, kind of like, kick in the rear end, you know, bare knuckle brawler, to make that happen. Microsoft, Satya wouldn’t have been able to even do what he did, in my opinion, again, this is just in my opinion, wouldn’t have been able to do what he did had Ballmer not, like had the guts to say, we’re all in. Because he bet the whole freaking company on that statement. And, you know, kudos to him. I wasn’t a big Ballmer fan when he was there. I thought he was a little bit rough around the edges, you know, a little abrasive. But, he’s like a fine wine. He’s, you know…
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
He’s, he’s, he’s aged, you know, he’s aged well in my memory, and as I look back I start to more and more appreciate that where we’re at today with Microsoft would never have been possible without his guts and the fact that he was who he was. So, if you think about the leaders of Microsoft, over the span of history, each one has, kind of, been the right person in the right place at the right time. We haven’t had, you know, have you seen it like with Google leadership? It’s not as, it’s not as front and centered with Google leadership…
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
But clearly, they have and under, a deep understanding of who they are, what they’re trying to achieve. I mean, at that meeting they said flat out, like, we’re not here to butt heads with Office 365. We’re not here to go head-to-head, that’s not what we’re about. We’re here to create an experience that does what it does for the people that it needs to, that, that, that will be able to partake of that experience. And I thought that was a really cool strategy too, so.
I call it the Clash of the Titans. It’s fascinating to watch as these, you know, these juggernauts, kind of, figure out where the future is going to be and what their place is in it. And that’s why we’re sending out that survey, because we’re really curious to see what organizations think about that.
Penny Conway:
Right, right. Because it’s, it’s, it’s so different than, you know, back when it, the goal was to have a PC in every person’s hands. That was the introduction of personal technology. Now we have choice. Now we, we were saying earlier, I’ve got my Outlook open, I’ve got my Gmail inbox right next to it. I’ve got my android phone sitting on the desk, or my Apple phone, and then my Ipad, that I’m watching Netflix on my lunch break, or something.
Lane Shelton:
Yeah.
Penny Conway:
There is no, the goal is to have a, you know, that sole experience and I think that there are a lot of avid users that go one direction. But for the rest of us, we have been able to pick and choose different platforms and pieces of platforms that we love and have them all coexist. And it’ll be really interesting in 1) in education, as we’ve seen for years, kind of that battle go back and forth, watch them work more closely together. I think Google’s got a really good mindset where their, their goal is not competition. I mean, I’m sure that part of their goal is competition…
Lane Shelton:
It is, of course.
Penny Conway:
But it, it’s not the core. It’s not why they are doing what they are doing. They are trying to create a different experience and I think, just in the past three to four years that I’ve worked with Microsoft, I’ve seen that competitiveness really flare up and then sort of go, all right, let’s just stay the course. Let’s do what we need to do. Likely driven by all that, you know, lying in the sand on the cloud, and let’s move forward. Let’s drive business. But it’s going to be really interesting to see how organizations play out what we’re doing in our normal lives and what, how the experience is going to be at work versus at home.
Lane Shelton:
Yep, it’s good ultimately for us as consumers, whether as whereas a business consumer, a personal consumer…
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative)
Lane Shelton:
academic consumer. Their, each of those ecosystems, and like I said, world dominance is on the agenda…
Penny Conway:
Yep, is on the agenda.
Lane Shelton:
the dominance is coming in the quality of the experience that they provide.
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
And so, if you think about that, they’re, you know, they want to win you because you want to be in that ecosystem. Because it’s actually better for you to put the iPad aside and get a, a surface, right? Because now it all integrates, and it’s seamless, and, you know, or, and you know, it’s better. If you’re Apple, it’s better that you, you know, go Mac and, you know, or if you’re Google, that you, that you get a Chromebook, you know, or that you, you know, that you. Whatever that experience is that they’re trying to build through better quality to win, you know, to win your, to win the heart and mind, that spells really good things for our future as consumers because it means the choices are going to be, it’s likely we’re going to have to choose a really good option and a really good option.
Penny Conway:
Uh-huh (affirmative) (laughs)
Lane Shelton:
And I like that, because that’s…
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
You know, because that’s, that’s a lot more fun than the old days of proprietary lock outs…
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
and this isn’t compatible with that, and this doesn’t work…
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
well with that. I mean, you know, and Microsoft’s kind of been on that path for a while. I mean, the Office experience on the, on, on, the IOS, and MAC platforms…
Penny Conway:
Oh, yep.
Lane Shelton:
in some ways, it’s better than on the windows (laughs).
Penny Conway:
(laughs)
Lane Shelton:
Like, but that says something about Microsoft culture, right? Because they didn’t just like, okay, we’re going to create a port, like, you know, like, hey, I made a great PS4 game and I’m going to just like, do, do the bare minimum to make sure it works on the Xbox, or vice versa, right?
Penny Conway:
Right.
Lane Shelton:
So right, like, they must’ve hired some people that loved MAC to build those products because they, they’re different, they feel different, they feel more culturally like Apple than they do like Microsoft. And that, that takes guts to do, to do that. But, it makes sense within Microsoft, if their mission is to own all the spaces in between, to be that fabric, then it would make sense that what, wherever you encounter their product; today it’s on the IOS platform. Maybe tomorrow, it’s not. But wherever you encounter that, that you have that great experience.
Penny Conway:
Yeah. Well Lane, thank you…
Lane Shelton:
Yeah!
Penny Conway:
so much for joining us today. Great conversation. And I hope you come back because I think there is a lot more Microsoft and Google and Apple and the results of that survey that we might be able to dig a little bit deeper in?
Lane Shelton:
And just to close out, remember the benchmarks? So, since we started talking about the 15 minutes in your cafeteria…
Penny Conway:
Yep.
Lane Shelton:
Just remember you’re looking for collaboration spaces, gourmet coffee that’s free, served in regular-sized cups, free snacks, and anything that perpetuates lots of employees going in and out, joining, joining into meetings, going in and out of meetings, etc. You can kind of get a feel for a culture, and I’ve seen this play out time and again. Go spend 15 minutes in the cafeteria, and that’ll be your, call it your Google benchmark.
Penny Conway:
I think I already know what the answer is for our cafeteria, but I’ll spend 15 minutes in there…
Lane Shelton:
There you go.
Penny Conway:
This afternoon, and report back. (laughs)
Lane Shelton:
Awesome. Thanks.
Penny Conway:
Thank you so much.
Announcer:
And folks, if you are in a place where you are evaluating your workforce and the tools that help them collaborate in the office, make sure you reach out to your account management team. You can engage and talk with them more about Microsoft and about Google, and if you’re so inclined, they can even help you invite Lane to lunch in your cafeteria. With that, thanks for listening. We look forward to talking to y’all down the road.
